It’s musical chairs with two animated sequels at Universal.
The sequel to “Sing” has been bumped back from Dec. 23, 2020 to July 2, 2021 . Taking its place is “The Croods 2.”
“The Croods 2” was originally going to be released on Sept. 18 2020. The sequel has been in and out of development since DreamWorks Animation was bought by Universal in 2016.
Voice cast Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds will return for the sequel. The prehistoric characters from the first film will be facing off with their biggest threat since leaving the cave: Another family. Leslie Mann and Peter Dinklage will voice the newcomers.
At a loss for what to watch this week? From new TV, we’ve got you covered.
New Video on Demand, Rental Streaming, and Digital
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
With a rebel yell, the first “Star Wars” standalone movie arrives on digital platforms this Friday, March 24, then on Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand April 4. StarWars.com has a full list of bonus features, including about a dozen featurettes with cast and filmmaker interviews and hidden Easter Eggs, plus a few different retailer exclusives with unique packaging.
“All Nighter”
J.K. Simmons plays a workaholic father who tries to visit his daughter during an L.A. layover and discovers she’s disappeared, so he teams up with her awkward ex-boyfriend (Emile Hirsch) to find her. The movie opened in limited release March 17 and it’s available on VOD & Digital HD March 24.
“Office Christmas Party” Jennifer Aniston, T.J. Miller, Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, Courtney B. Vance, and Kate McKinnon lead the all-star cast of this Christmas comedy, which arrives on Digital HD — with its own unrated version — on March 21. You can also get the unrated cut on DVD or Blu-ray April 4.
“Atomica”
Dominic Monaghan, Tom Sizemore, and Sarah Habel star in this sci-fi thriller set in the near future, as communications go offline at a remote nuclear power plant. A young safety inspector is forced to fly out to bring them back online, but — once inside the facility — strange behaviors cause her to have doubts about the two employees onsite. The movie hit theaters March 17 and arrives on VOD and Digital HD March 21.
“Smash: Motorized Mayhem”
This documentary set in small-town Florida follows the blue-collar folks who gather to participate in a bi-annual wild event: Figure-8 School Bus Racing. Nineteen full-sized school buses pack a 3.8 mile figure-8 track and race 20 laps to crown a victor. The story follows three drivers and the track promoter during a three-week intensive push to prepare for race night. The doc will be released via VOD and iTunes on March 21.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
“Sing” Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) wants to save his crumbling theater, so he puts on the singing competition of a lifetime in this musical family film, ready for home viewing March 21 on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand. There’s more than an hour of bonus footage, including three all-new mini movies, character profiles, music videos, a whole lot more of Gunter, and “The Making of SING.”
Here’s an exclusive clip from the bonus features, with a character profile of Tori Kelly as Meena:“Assassin’s Creed”
Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons star in this action film, based on the popular video game franchise, which arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 21. The bonus features include 90 minutes of extra content, including cast and filmmaker interviews and never-before-seen footage from production.
Here’s an exclusive clip from the bonus features, with director Justin Kurzel talking about adapting the game for the big screen:“Miss Sloane”
Jessica Chastain plays ruthless Washington lobbyist Elizabeth Stone, who risks everything when faced with her most formidable opponent yet, in this high-stakes political drama arriving March 21 on DVD and Blu-ray. The discs include the special feature “Lobbying: Winning by Any Means.”
“Live by Night”
Ben Affleck’s Prohibition era passion project arrives on Blu-ray and DVD March 21. The Blu-ray includes several behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and commentary from director Affleck. The Ben Affleck Collection will also be available on Blu-ray on March 21, including “Live By Night” along with 2010’s “The Town”; 2012’s “Argo”; and 2016’s “The Accountant.”
“Julieta”
Check out Academy Award winner Pedro Almodóvar’s 20th feature film when “Julieta” arrives on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on March 21. Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte play older and younger versions of the title character in the story of a brokenhearted woman who faces the painful mystery of her long alienation from her daughter. The discs include two bonus featurettes, “Portrait of Julieta” and “Celebrating Director Pedro Almodóvar.”
“The Most Hated Woman in America” (Netflix Original Film)Melissa Leo plays Madalyn Murray O’Hair, founder of American Atheists, in this true-crime biopic following the controversial champion’s rise to fame and mysterious disappearance. The Netflix original film — co-starring Josh Lucas, Adam Scott, Vincent Kartheiser, and Juno Temple — is ready for streaming this Friday, March 24.
“Grace and Frankie” Season 3 (Netflix Original)Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are back in business as the third season of Netflix’s original comedy — co-starring Martin Sheen, Sam Waterson June Diane Raphael, Brooklyn Decker, Ethan Embry, Baron Vaughn, and Ernie Hudson — premieres March 24.
“Ingobernable” Season 1 (Netflix Original)
The First Lady of Mexico (Kate del Castillo) is a woman of conviction and ideals, but when she loses her faith in her husband she’ll need all of her strength to uncover the truth. The Mexican original series arrives on Netflix March 24.
“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”
If you’re not into the Netflix originals this week, you might consider streaming this landmark 1988 crime comedy mixing animation and live-action. Jessica Rabbit — not bad, just drawn that way — awaits on March 24.
TV Worth Watching
“Dancing With the Stars” Season 24 (Monday on ABC at 8 p.m.) It’s time to head back to the ballroom to watch 12 baby giraffes take their first awkward steps, live in front of four judges and millions of viewers at home. The spring 2017 cast includes Simone Biles, Charo, Mr T., Nancy Kerrigan, Chris Kattan, Rashad Jennings, Bonner Bolton, Erika Jayne, Normani Kordei, Heather Morris, David Ross, and — because there’s no getting him off any ABC reality show he can find — Nick Viall.
“Empire” Season 3 (Wednesday on FOX at 9 p.m.)
Season 3 finally returns from winter hiatus on March 22 with the spring premiere, “Sound and Fury,” guest-starring Rumer Willis. The synopsis promises “an epic clash” for Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and Lucious (Terrence Howard), “fueled by a history of love, loyalty and betrayal.”
“Rogue” Season 4 (Wednesday on Audience at 9 p.m.)
The fourth and final season of DirecTV/Audience Network’s original drama series launches its 10 episodes on March 22. According to Deadline, Season 4 will move the police drama back to San Francisco, with Meaghan Rath joining star Cole Hauser and recent addition Ashley Greene.
“Superstore” Season 2 (Thursday on NBC at 8 p.m.)
Just a reminder that this is one of the best comedies on TV today, and — fun fact — this week’s episode was directed by star America Ferrera in her TV directorial debut. Episode 18 follows “Mateo’s Last Day,” which, of course, does not go as planned: “When Mateo (Nico Santos) faces complications with his transfer to a Cloud 9 Signature store, he becomes desperate to resolve his undocumented status. Meanwhile, Amy (America Ferrera) helps Glenn (Mark McKinney) battle an Internet troll, Jonah (Ben Feldman) and Cheyenne (Nichole Bloom) try to give Mateo legal counsel, and Dina (Lauren Ash) and Garrett (Colton Dunn) take issue with corporate.”
“The Secret Life of Pets 2” is going to stay a secret for an extra year. Illumination Entertainment and Universal just announced some schedule reshuffling, as well as the arrival of “Sing 2,” a sequel to the 2016 animated singing competition movie.
“Sing 2” is scheduled to come out December 25, 2020. “The Secret Life of Pets 2” is sticking with a July release, but now July 3, 2019 instead of July 13, 2018. “Minions 2” is also moving, but only a week — now on July 3, 2020 instead of July 10, 2020.
Here’s a handy look at Illumination’s new schedule, which also includes the third “Despicable Me” movie, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s “Grinch”:
“Despicable Me 3” – June 30, 2017
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” – November 9, 2018
“The Secret Life of Pets 2” – July 3, 2019
“Minions 2” – July 3, 2020
“Sing 2” – December 25, 2020
In 2012, Illumination announced plans for a 3D CG-animated version of “The Cat in the Hat,” to follow the success of “The Lorax.” That still appears to be in development.
So far, “Illumination” has had most success with “Minions,” which made more than $1 billion worldwide; “Despicable Me 2” ($970.8 million); and “The Secret Life of Pets” ($875.5 million). “Sing” just came out on Dec. 21, 2016, and it has currently grossed $429.8 million worldwide.
Sure, 2016’s domestic box office did hit a record $11.3 billion, up a modest 1.7 percent from 2015’s record take. But that doesn’t account for the inflation in the average ticket price — $8.61 this year, up 18 cents from 2015 — which means the number of tickets sold this year, 1.31 billion, was down a hair from a year ago, when theaters sold six million more tickets.
In fact, the total number of tickets sold has been slipping ever since the peak year of 2002 (1.58 billion tickets).
The current weekend is a pretty good snapshot of the year as a whole. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” topped the charts for a third straight weekend with an estimated $50 million (for a total of more than $400 million domestic to date). That made it 2016’s second highest-grossing film, surpassing “Captain America: Civil War.”
Looking at these movies, as well as the rest of the year, it becomes easier to find trends amid the box office confusion of 2016 and declare some clear winners and losers.
WINNERS:
1. Star Wars Along with “Rogue One’s” earnings so far, and “The Force Awakens” playing into the early months of 2016, the franchise accounts for a solid $700 million toward the year’s total take in North America. We’ve never had a year with two “Star Wars” movies in the multiplex before, which paves the way for “Episode VIII” in December 2017.
2. Disney The House That Walt Built was far and away the market leader this year, both globally and domestically. With “Star Wars,” Marvel, Pixar, and live-action remakes of its animated library, the studio has hit upon several winning formulas, enough to power it past $7 billion globally this year.
Disney scored four billion-dollar movies and six of this year’s ten biggest domestic hits. Not everything worked, but the big smashes were more than big enough to make up for the extravagant flops — sorry not sorry, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and “The BFG.”
3. China Remember what a huge flop “Warcraft” seemed to be earlier this summer? It made only $47 million here, but it was a massive hit abroad, earning $386 million.
The largest chunk of that change came from China ($221 million), a market whose taste in movies is now, arguably, more important than Americans’ taste as far as determining which films Hollywood greenlights. Of course, if President-elect Trump goes all protectionist on trade with China, that country may respond by limiting Hollywood imports, which would mean fewer “Warcrafts” getting made. A win-win for everybody!
4. Talking Animals “Finding Dory,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Zootopia” were all among the year’s top 10 movies. Current hit “Sing” is in the top 20, with $177 million to date.
5. Idris Elba Did any actor have a better box office year in 2016? With “Zootopia,” “The Jungle Book,” “Finding Dory,” and “Star Trek Beyond,” his movies made $1.35 billion in North America. Granted, he’s seen on camera in just one of those films, but still, his name in the credits now seems to be a sign that the movie is going to be a well-crafted popcorn entertainment.
LOSERS:
6. Bad Sequels “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” “Independence Day: Resurgence,” “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows,” “The Divergent Series: Allegiant,” “Now You See Me 2,” “Zoolander 2,” “Bad Santa 2,” and many others flopped because either you didn’t like them or want them.
Same was true for some uninspired remakes, including “Ghostbusters,” “Ben-Hur,” and “Pete’s Dragon.” None of this is going to stop the studios from betting the farm on sequels: they’re still easier to market than unfamiliar original titles, and they’re still likely to make money if they’re done right. A big “if,” to be sure.
7. Hollywood Stars Aren’t a Sure Thing to Put Butts in Seats More than ever, it became apparent that marquee names alone aren’t enough to sell a movie, and they’re certainly not enough to turn a dog of a film into a thoroughbred.
“Passengers” is currently flailing despite the presence of Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt (in two weeks, it’s earned back just $61 million of its $110 million budget), and James Franco couldn’t sell “Why Him?” (an estimated $10 million this weekend, for a total of $37.6 million to date, though that one cost just $38 million to make). Throughout 2016, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Melissa McCarthy, and other A-listers failed to interest ticketbuyers in their latest weak offerings. Tom Hanks helped make the well-liked “Sully” a hit but couldn’t interest anyone in the widely ridiculed threequel “Inferno.”
But even quality, star-driven movies can be a tough sell. Meryl Streep pulled in just $27 million for “Florence Foster Jenkins.” Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal haven’t been able to propel “Nocturnal Animals” past the $10 million mark. Jury’s still out on Denzel Washington‘s “Fences,” which has made just $33 million in three weeks but has yet to go into wide release. After tireless promotion by stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, three-week-old “La La Land” is the biggest limited-release hit of the year, but even that amounts to only about $37 million so far.
8. Movies for Guys Yes, testosterone still rules the marketplace, which helps explain all the superhero movies. Still, it’s worth noting that at least eight of the top 25 movies are driven by female protagonists, as studios start to recognize that women buy tickets too.
Meanwhile, sausage fests like “The Nice Guys,” “War Dogs,” “Dirty Grandpa,” and the current “Assassin’s Creed” and “Why Him?” all had a hard time drawing dudes to the theater.
Maybe guys stayed home this weekend to watch college football playoffs, or maybe there just wasn’t anything on that menu as compelling as watching Felicity Jones fight the empire in “Rogue One.”
LOS ANGELES, Jan 1 (Variety.com) – “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Sing” loomed large at the multiplexes over the New Year’s holiday, racking up the biggest grosses and ringing out 2016 on a high note.
The Star Wars spinoff topped the box office for the third consecutive weekend, earning just under $50 million for the three-day period and a projected $64 million for the four-day holiday. The movie business is tacking Monday on to New Year’s weekend, because many companies and schools are observing it as a national holiday. The weekend gross pushes the space opera over the $400 million mark domestically. It currently ranks as the year’s second highest-grossing domestic release, with $425 million, behind only “Finding Dory.” “Rogue One” concludes a record-annihilating year for Disney. The studio became the first to top $7 billion in a single year, has fielded four of the five top grossing domestic releases, and should see four of its movies top $1 billion at the global box office.
“Sing,” the latest collaboration between Illumination and Universal, racked up $41.4 million during its second weekend in theaters. It is projected to earn $53.7 million for the four-day holiday weekend and has made $177.3 million stateside. It’s the second smash of 2016 for Illumination, the maker of “Despicable Me.” The company also scored with last summer’s “The Secret Life of Pets.”
In third place “Passengers,” a critically derided science fiction romance with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence, earned $16.1 million over the three-day weekend and $20.7 million over the four day. As of Sunday, its domestic haul stands at $61.4 million. With a $110 million budget and millions more spent in promotion, “Passengers” will need a lift from foreign audiences if it hopes to make money.
The same is true for Fox’s “Assassin’s Creed,” which took in $8 million for the weekend and a projected $10 million for the holiday. The video game adaptation has earned $41 million since opening over Christmas — a dispiriting result given its hefty $125 million budget. Movies made from games are a mixed bag. For every hit like “Mortal Combat” or “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” there are a slew of duds such as “Warcraft” and “Prince of Persia.”
Fox is having more luck with “Why Him?” The R-rated comedy earned $10 million over the three day period and an estimated $13 million for the four day holiday. The film about the rivalry between a father (Bryan Cranston) and his daughter’s fiancee (James Franco) has earned $37.6 million and cost an economical $38 million to produce.
Paramount’s “Fences,” expanded nicely. Denzel Washington directs and stars in the August Wilson adaptation, with Viola Davis playing a key supporting role. The drama earned $10.2 million over the three-day weekend and an estimated $13 million for the holiday. It has made $32.7 million since debuting three weeks ago in limited release.
Lionsgate’s “La La Land,” continued to capitalize on awards buzz. The musical earned $9.5 million over the weekend and is projected to make $12.3 million over the four-day holiday, which would bring its gross to an estimated $37 million. On Friday, “La La Land” passed “Hell or High Water” to become the highest-grossing movie in limited release for the year.
Fox’s “Hidden Figures” looks strong. The drama about the African-American scientists and mathematicians who played a pivotal role in the early days of America’s space program, earned $815,000 for the three days and $1.1 million for the four days from just 25 theaters. It goes into wide release next weekend.
“20th Century Women” and “Paterson” were released just under the wire in order to qualify for Oscars. “20th Century Women,” a comedy-drama that’s earned some of the best reviews of Annette Bening‘s career, earned $112,705 for the weekend. A24 is handling the rollout. “Patterson,” a drama about a poetic bus driver, made $70,760. It is being released by Amazon Studios and Bleecker Street.
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” remains powerful at the U.S. holiday box office with a dominant $15 million on Christmas Eve and projections of a $120 million-plus haul over the six-day Dec. 21-26 period.
Illumination-Universal’s animated comedy “Sing” easily led the rest of the pack on Christmas Eve with a solid $7.9 million, followed by Sony’s “Passengers” with $2.9 million, Fox’s “Assassin’s Creed” with $2.2 million and Fox’s “Why Him?” with $1.8 million.
Paramount launched Denzel Washington-Viola Davis’s “Fences” with $750,000 at 1,547 sites in Saturday night showings and plans to expand the drama to about 2,200 locations Sunday.
Overall moviegoing slowed on Christmas Eve, as is typical, with “Rogue One” falling about 33 percent from Friday and “Sing” declining about 40 percent. Business should rebound sharply on Christmas Day on Sunday and on Monday, an official holiday for many.
Disney-Lucas film’s “Rogue One,” starring Felicity Jones, wound up business on Christmas Eve with about $260 million domestically in its first nine days and is projected to finish the holiday on Monday with about $327 million. That will be enough to pull it past “Suicide Squad” as the eighth highest domestic grosser of the year.
“Rogue One,” the eighth Star Wars movie, is running about 42 percent behind the pace “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens,” which opened a year ago and grossed a still-stunning $571 million in its first 11 days on its way to a record $948 million domestic total.
“Sing” is projected to come in a second with about $71.5 million over the six days – in line with forecasts – followed by the Jennifer Lawrence-Chris Pratt sci-fier “Passengers” at about $29 million to $30 million and videogame adaptation “Assassin’s Creed” at $22.6 million.
James Franco’s romantic comedy “Why Him?,” which opened Friday, is forecast to finish the four-day weekend with about $14.4 million.
Martin Scorsese’s historical drama “Silence” is projected to finish the four days with $170,000 at four theaters. The film stars Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver as 17th century priests who face brutal persecution in Japan.
“Patriots Day,” from CBS Films and Lionsgate, took in $34,336 on Christmas Eve from seven locations and is project to wind up the six-day holiday break with about $280,000. The Boston Marathon bombing movie is directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg.
The “X-Men” powers of Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender — even combined with Marvel’s own Star-Lord Chris Pratt — are unlikely to save “Passengers” and “Assassin’s Creed” at the Christmas weekend box office. Sorry, but they’re just no match for Felicity Jones and animated singing animals.
According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s box office projections, “Rogue One” is expected to dominate once again (no shock), with “Sing” taking the biggest haul of the three movies that opened Wednesday, Dec. 21. “Passengers” and (especially) “Assassin’s Creed” are expected to have disappointing opening weekends, perhaps matching their disappointing reviews.
• “Rogue One” opened Friday, Dec. 16 to big numbers, and THR said it’s projected for a Friday-Monday holiday weekend gross of more than $110 million, putting its domestic intake above $300 million through Monday.
• “Sing,” which cost about $75 million, is projected for a six-day (Wednesday-Monday) opening of roughly $80 million.
• “Passengers,” which cost around $110 million, is expected to have a six-day launch of $27 million-$30 million. THR noted that Sony had hoped for a $30 million-$40 million start. That’s not too far off, though.
• “Assassin’s Creed,” which cost around $125 million, is projected for a six-day opening of approximately $20 million. That’s not great.
These are, of course, projections, and by the time Tuesday rolls around to end the long holiday weekend, box office prognosticators could be in for a shock at what fans actually went to see over Christmas break.
This punk-rock porcupine is not calling anyone, and there’s no “maybe” about it.
In the animated movie “Sing,” Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is taking part in the singing contest put on by koala / theater owner Buster (Matthew McConaughey). Sure, she left her band after finding out her ex-boyfriend cheated on her, but just because she’s doing this competition doesn’t mean she’ll sing anything.
In this exclusive clip, Buster suggests a very popular song: Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” But Ash isn’t having it.
“I’m not singing this,” she flatly tells Buster.
But the koala thinks it’s perfect for a young teen singer like her. “Wow, it’s like you can see inside my tiny teenage mind,” a sarcastic Ash snarks at him. Will Buster be able to change her mind with his rendition of the tune, maybe?
Missing “American Idol”? Here’s essentially “Animal Idol” to take its place.
A new trailer for the animated movie “Sing” gives us a more in-depth look at the animal singers competing for stardom — pigs, koalas, elephants, gorillas, and more. All of them are grappling with personal issues that only their passion for music can soothe and solve.
The trailer, set to Eminem’s “Sing For the Moment” (which samples Aerosmith’s “Dream On”), introduces the hopes and dreams of the eclectic characters. There’s Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), a pig seeking to better the lives of her 25 piglets. Scarlett Johansson’s porcupine Ash is getting over a cheating boyfriend. Shy elephant Meena (Tori Kelly) struggles to conquer stage fright, while gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton) wants to escape his criminal family.
The animation looks good and the story resonates, not surprising since it’s made by the same company (Illumination) that brought you “Despicable Me” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” And with a soundtrack of over 65 covers, the movie should appeal to all those people who love tuning into reality singing competitions.